Italy’s prime minister should have learned from last week’s Austria-Iran dispute.

By Sir David Amess MP

It was recently announced that Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is the latest Western senior official scheduled to visit Tehran, on April 12 and 13, where he will meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other key officials. This latest state visit comes only a few months after a high profile trip by Rouhani to Italy and France in January. It is part of a growing trend of diplomatic exchange between Iranian and European officials and business delegates, as the two sides eagerly pursue expanded trade relations following the suspension of U.S.-led sanctions.

While few will deny the principle that Compromise is the essence of Politics and that pragmatic solutions can be helpful within any democratic, pluralist society, this week's visit to Iran by Italian PM Matteo Renzi's will, under the prevailing circumstances, send a totally inappropriate message to the ayatollahs.

While the European Union has properly called on Albania to carry out judicial reform in order for talks to progress towards its full membership of the bloc, the tiny Balkan state must surely be commended for its practical activity on the international stage insofar as it contributes towards the prevention of a humanitarian disaster in the making.

When 2015 drew to a close, I was dismayed to see that many leading Western policy makers were still clinging to the notion of a moderate Iranian regime. At the same time, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran was continuing to exploit the moderate appearance of his regime in order to encourage more Western conciliation and deflect further scrutiny. Now sanctions have been lifted on Iran by Western powers, the insincerity of Rouhani’s regime has become more visible.